Pages from a commonplace book kept by Charles Dodgson—better known as Lewis Carroll—with information about ciphers, anagrams, stenography, and labyrinths. Kelsey McKinney of the Harry Ransom Center writes about how social media is nothing new—for centuries, writers have been aggregating, storing and sharing information they find useful in commonplace books.
Courtesy of Harry Ransom Center
Pages from a commonplace book kept by English poet Robert Southey, a friend and contemporary of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth.
Courtesy of Harry Ransom Center
Pages from a commonplace book in which Patrick Branwell Brontë, brother of Emily and Charlotte Brontë, contributed four pages of poetry and sketches.
Courtesy of Harry Ransom Center
Sara Coleridge's commonplace book, with some watercolors and poems. She was an English author and translator who was the daughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Courtesy of Harry Ransom Center
Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) was a German-British astronomer and scientist. Her commonplace book includes calculations and charts related to her observations and work.
Courtesy of Harry Ransom Center
Pages from a commonplace book kept by Nancy Cunard, full of quotes and poems by friends.
